It’s been a long day and as I head home, the only music I hear playing over and over is titled ‘Workaholics Anonymous’ by Ko-jo Cue. I was simply enjoying the instrumentation (beat) of the song until the 3rd play.
I have had the song on my phone for a while now but never really paid attention to the lyrics until now. The song made me realize it is difficult to be both an employee and employer. In the song Cue tackles the struggles and being both an employee and employer, noting that both are not easy.
Being an employee comes with its ups and downs. The demands for reports to be delivered on time, being punctual at work regardless of what you’re going through. The list is endless, but what sticks out the most and really gets to a young employee is having a report one has worked for days being thrown out by a supervisor for not being up to standard. One may say it is hard training for a young person quoting “hard training, easy battle” but should it be so? How can the young person not be trained with care and treated like an egg? Some may say it is softening the young generation but I’ll say we need to treat each young employee as different based on their personality. It is often said the young employee is lazy but are they actually or they’re just responding to how they’re being treated?
Contrasting with being your own boss is rather flexible. Here one can choose when to go to work, when to work on reports and if reports suit their taste without scrutiny. For this reason most young people want to be their own bosses rather early in their careers. I am not saying it is wrong to have such aspirations but I’d advise you to go through the mill, learn the ropes and be an employee foremost.
When it comes to pay day, the employees are always excited because they know they’d receive their salaries, and are always expectant of it. They make plans and budget these monies even before they arrive and really get mad if their salaries delay, especially when their employers give them no updates or reasons as to the delay.
Being an employer gives you a better understanding of this situation. As an employer, you may hate the nagging of your employees especially when they are well aware the business made no profits, resulting in delayed salaries. Instead of exercising patience, they dilly dally at work and keep complaining over unpaid or delayed salaries when the employer may be busily selling off their personal assets to pay staff. At such moments, employers wish they were also employees on someone’s payroll.
These are just a few pointers one has to take note of as both an employee and potential employer. Both paths are not easy and I’d advise that if you choose to be on either path, do so with dedication and never lose focus. Never consider either as easy as that can lead to an epic disaster.
Just as the Bible says; “Whatever you do work at it with all you heart as if doing it for the Lord.”
PS; It’s not like I don’t know the scripture but I left it out as homework for you.
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